Of all the twists and turns in Florida’s unlikely basketball season, there’s one fact that I can’t wrap my mind around.
It isn’t the win against then-No. 2 Michigan State or the ensuing top-10 national ranking.
It isn’t the back-to-back losses to Richmond and South Alabama.
And it isn’t the Chandler Parsons’ buzzer-beaters, either.
The thing I can’t understand is how Dan Werner is averaging almost 29 minutes per game, a career high, while setting career lows in nearly every meaningful statistical category.
The senior forward is averaging 5.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists while shooting 34.5 percent from the field and 28.8 from three.
In Southeastern Conference play, it’s even worse. Werner is logging 3.4 points per outing while shooting 24.2 percent shooting from the field and 17.6 percent shooting from three.
As for his in-conference rebounding numbers, Werner has pulled down exactly one more rebound than 5-foot-8 guard Erving Walker.
Despite all of that damning statistical evidence, I actually agree with the argument that Dan Werner is playing nearly 29 minutes per game because he’s the best option UF coach Billy Donovan has.
Somehow, Ray Shipman and Erik Murphy haven’t earned playing time by proving they can help the team win more than Werner.
So perhaps the most baffling question isn’t: How is Dan Werner logging 29 minutes every night as a zero-sum basketball player?
But rather: How did Florida basketball — three years removed from back-to-back national championships — reach the point where a player like Dan Werner is the best option to log those 29 minutes per game?
Whether it has been bad luck or bad recruiting — or both — Donovan and the Gators find themselves here for four main reasons:
1. The early departures of Marreese Speights and Nick Calathes for professional careers.
2. The decisions to transfer by Jai Lucas, Jonathan Mitchell, Allan Chaney, Eloy Vargas and Brandon Powell.
3. The injuries sustained by Adam Allen and Kenny Kadji.
4. The lack of development by Shipman and Murphy.
All those things left Donovan with five functional players plus Werner, who toes the line between functional and comatose.
And so Werner continues to play even though he has scored two points or less 10 times this season, and 10 points or more only four times this season.
He continues to play even though he has failed to make more than one shot from the field on 13 occasions, including his current eight-game streak.
And many fans who can’t remember what it was like to have Chris Richard as the first player off the bench will say that Werner’s value isn’t in scoring points, ripping down boards and dishing out assists. Instead, Werner shows up to work every day ready to set screens, dive for loose balls and play smart-help defense with his lunch pale in hand.
The little things are important, but there was a time in Gainesville not too long ago when a player occasionally needed to bring his jump shot, athleticism and ballhandling if he was to log 29 minutes per game.
